SHE was polite and friendly. Her personality almost burst through the telephone, writes BRIAN DOOGAN.

"Martin's not here right now, but he will be in five minutes. All righty?" she said in an American accent acquired while living for a spell in Los Angeles.

It was Pernilla, Martin Dahlin's Swedish girlfriend, a catwalk model.

I was trying to set up an interview with Martin, I explained, but if she happened to be at a loose end ...

Five minutes later, Dahlin came on.

"After training tomorrow, no problem, thank you, bye-bye."

Polite as well. No fuss. Mission accomplished.

Okay, so arranging to meet Martin Dahlin isn't like requesting an interview with the President of the United States.

But footballers of lesser standing than Dahlin have been known to mount obstacles in the way of reporters that Bill Clinton might not experience in talks with Russia.

Erecting barriers is not Dahlin's style.

He enjoys meeting people. He stays in touch with childhood friends and sees them as much as he can when he's back in Sweden.

Football commitments keep these encounters to a minimum.

Prior to signing a three-year contract with Blackburn Rovers, he spent a frustrating six months in Italy with Roma and played for German side Borussia Munchengladbach for five seasons before returning on loan when the Roma situation deteriorated.

"The problem was there were five international strikers at the club and you don't need to be a mathematician to work out that there were three of us on the sidelines every game," said Dahlin.

"In addition to me, there was Abel Balbo, the Argentinian, Daniel Fonseca from Uruguay and Italians Francesco Totti and Marco Delvecchio.

"The coach, Ottavio Bianchi, didn't know what he wanted so he changed the line-up constantly.

"I would play one game, then I was out. That was something completely new for me. "I went back to Germany because when you are not playing regularly it is difficult to stay at the highest level."

He was vindicated when he scored 10 goals in 17 games before the end of the season.

Familiarity with the surroundings and the staff at Borussia prompted speculation that he may sign again for the German club.

But Dahlin had different ideas.

"After six years I was looking for something new," he said.

Ironically, it was something old that persuaded him to join Rovers.

"Roy Hodgson being the coach here was very important when I weighed up the possibilities in my mind," he said.

"I knew about the way he works and I knew him well as a coach having worked with him at Malmo for three seasons.

"I also know that every team he touches, or has been involved with, has had success."

But Dahlin contends that his move to the Premiership has nothing to do with him proving his worth.

"I don't have to prove myself any more," he said.

"My motivation now is that it's fun to play football.

"And the more success you have at it, the more fun you have too.

"Losing isn't fun at all."

Nor are the persistent accusations of racism that Rovers have had to field from certain quarters, whispers that a hidden agenda has been behind the absence of black players in Blackburn's team.

Thus far, Rovers have dismissed the murmurs with the disdain a lion might muster if confronted by a peacock but now they can redirect the fingers of their accusers to the guy wearing the number 10 shirt.

For the player himself, it is a moot point.

"I'm only here to play football," said Dahlin.

"I heard something similar when a couple of seasons ago my name was linked with Everton.

"Only against one team in the Bundesliga did I encounter any abuse from fans.

"And again in Sweden there was just one team.

"Otherwise it hasn't been a problem and I don't see it being a problem here."

It was a problem in his childhood but no more so, he says, than it was for "a guy with glasses or with red hair or someone fat".

Dahlin's father hailed from Venezuela though his mother is Swedish.

North American sports, particularly basketball, competed with football for his attention when he was young.

Older brother Tomas preferred the thinking man's sport, chess, and now - as well as working with computers - he competes in the First Division of the Swedish league. "I was never tempted to play chess, no - I can't sit down that long!" joked the younger Dahlin.

It wasn't long before the South American influence took hold and basketball yielded to football.

He began playing when he was six but his talent began to truly assert itself when he entered his teens.

It also became clear that the reserved, almost reticent Dahlin could assert himself in an aggressive manner on the football field.

"It is like two different persons," he suggested.

"Playing football, I am an aggressive character, not dirty, I just play hard.

"Off the pitch, new people who meet me can't believe I'm so nice.

"Maybe it's being half-Venezuelan, half-Swedish, I don't know."

Initial experience in the Swedish Third Division with Lund led to several campaigns with Malmo before the German and Italian experiences and, of course, the 1994 World Cup where he was decidedly all-Swedish.

"It was the greatest experience of my life - we made so many people at home very happy," he recalled.

"I think Sweden needed something like that.

"Third place in the World Cup for such a small nation (with a population of 8.5million) was such an achievement.

"I don't think Sweden ever experienced something like that.

"When we got back to Stockholm straight after the tournament there were half a million people lining the streets.

"Swedes are normally calm but they were excited then and America did that for us."

Interestingly, he is talking now of returning to America when his three-year contract at Ewood Park expires.

"It depends how I feel in three years but I would like to experience more of America and maybe play there - they're now attracting an average of 20,000 fans to games in the American League," he concluded.

The only problem he might find when he gets there is that he bears an uncanny resemblance to OJ Simpson.

Going back to Los Angeles with Pernilla then might be out of the question.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.